August, 2017

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How Artificial Intelligence Can Help Your Business

YoungUpstarts

Artificial intelligence is increasingly making inroads into different areas of our lives. Many of the current and proposed uses for artificial intelligence are things that only a short time ago would have sounded right at home in speculative science fiction. As more and more of these seemingly magical uses of artificial intelligence come to be realized, there is also an increasing awareness developing of just how much we can achieve with truly intelligent machines and pieces of software.

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6 Keys to Marketing Customer Experience vs Products

Startup Professionals Musings

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.” Exactly what is that customer experience that every modern marketer is talking about, and how do you measure it? A classic article in the Harvard Business Review “ The Truth About Customer Experience ” defines it as your customer’s end-to-end journey with you, not just the

Customer 213
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What Do Boards Actually Do?

Both Sides of the Table

There’s a lot of mystique about what happens at board meetings and a lot of imagined board-room drama. I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. The image of boards and of investors vs. founder conflicts has been so at odds with my experiences on dozens of boards over the past 20 years that I thought it was worth sharing what I actually see.

Cofounder 217
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How to Write a Mission Statement in 5 Easy Steps

Up and Running

I’ve had a 30-year love-hate relationship with mission statements. I’ve read thousands. I love it when a mission statement defines a business so well that it feels like strategy —which does happen—and I hate it when a mission statement is generic, stale, and completely useless. Which also happens, but not nearly as often. What is a mission statement?

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Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in

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6 Customer Journey Mapping Examples: How UX Pros Do It

ConversionXL

Customer journey mapping is a widely used and impactful technique that can help you make better product, marketing, UX, and merchandising decisions. However, like other UX research techniques (including user personas ), there’s some vagueness and obscurity around how to actually create customer journey maps. This article will draw processes and customer journey mapping examples from experts in the field, and you’ll hopefully walk away with a real and clear picture of how to do it on

Customer 130
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Are you or your business “time bankrupt?”

Berkonomics

Time bankruptcy results from the deliberate over-commitment of core resources. Close. You’d know the symptoms, if not the name. You’re fighting to put out the fires from customer complaints, or incomplete work, or are suffering from an inability to focus upon new development or new customers before cleaning up the mess inside your organization. I created the term “time bankruptcy” almost thirty years ago when the computer software business was young, and I was a software developer building a yo

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6 Pragmatic Marketing Tips To Ramp-Up Your Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Marketing is everything these days. You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. They skimp on the design of their website, procrastinate on the rollout to make sure the product is perfect, and get so excited about technology features that they forget about creating value f

Marketing 188
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11 Quick Tips to Get More Value out of Your Board

Both Sides of the Table

Many board meetings are bored meetings. Management teams whisk through slides trying to get through a presentation to share how great things are going and they are eager to get through the meeting so they can get back to their real jobs. This is a shame since the value that the right board could add is immense if you select the right board members and manage them effectively.

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How to Master Entrepreneurship Without Breaking a Sweat

Up and Running

“The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and an actualizer. He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.” ― Robert L. Schwartz. It takes guts and gumption to leave behind the familiar and secure 9 to 5 job, start something new from scratch, and be completely accountable for its fate. Having said that, entrepreneurship continues to attract a large number of millennials, especially those thirsting to carve a niche for themselves in the crowded b

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18 Top A/B Testing Tools Reviewed by CRO Experts

ConversionXL

At this point in time, the field is flooded with solutions. Finding a proper A/B testing tool isn’t the problem anymore. Now, the problem is choosing the right one. If you work in conversion optimization – whether at an agency, in-house, or as a consultant – you almost certainly run A/B tests. Though you could hire someone full time to sift through and analyze the pros and cons of each tool, it’s easier to learn from the experience of others and make a decision based on that.

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Wasted time is money lost.

Berkonomics

Close. There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.

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Methods To Improve Your Website Content

YoungUpstarts

If you have a website, then content improvement should be one of your primary goals as a way to increase visitors. Although there are many different actions you can take to gain search engine recognition, content creation is the one with the most staying power. It makes sense, too – after all, other ranking methods may get people to the page; but only good content can actually make them stay on it.

Curation 164
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Essay: The Role of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development

The Startup Magazine

Enterprise is defined as the act of creating, innovating and setting up a business, taking financial risks expecting profits. The enterprise in company form offers a product, a process or service for sale or hires to professionals or individuals, contributing to a community’s overall economic development. Entrepreneurship is known for the high risks involved in launching a startup.

Developer 124
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How to value your SaaS company

VC Adventure

If you read my blog regularly you know I love (LOVE) metrics. So no surprise that when River Cities Capital released an overview of SaaS operating and valuation benchmarks, I hung on every juicy detail. It’s chocked full of them – I’d highly recommend your reading the full report. But if you’re too busy for that, below are some of the key take-aways.

IPO 113
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Tips for Writing a Successful Business Plan for a Daycare Center

Up and Running

Working out a business plan for your daycare center can be a challenge. There are many expenses you must calculate—more than you’d think! Projected enrollment growth and market demand can also be tricky to estimate. From knowing your competition to picking the right place to establish your daycare center, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. As someone who owns eight successful daycares in the Chicago area, I know the strategies and approaches that work when it comes to developing a sound b

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August 31 is GigaTECHs App Competition

Austin Startup

The Forrest Four-Cast: August 28, 2017 Catch demonstrations from 11 GigaTECHS App Competition finalists on the evening of Thursday, August 31 at Capital Factory. Led by Washington D.C-based U.S Ignite , this competition encourages next-generation Gigabit Internet applications that provide transformative public benefit. Finalists will have the opportunity to win $38,000 in prize money to seed and support the development of applications that focus on opportunities in local transportation, educatio

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Haste makes waste; but to lag is to sag.

Berkonomics

Close. Let’s examine the relationship between time, quality and competitiveness. If you are getting the impression from these many insights that complex relationships cause simple problems, you are right. We have heard the “haste makes waste” ditty since childhood. There is little need to reinforce the obvious. On a larger scale, there are epoch stories of giant companies eating massive losses in a recall of product, often based upon limited testing before release.

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Four Trends In Artificial Intelligence That Affect Enterprises

YoungUpstarts

by Kamal Brar, Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific at Hortonworks . We all have seen the headlines: “Google’s AlphaGo defeats world-class Chinese “Go” player”; “IBM’s Watson is tackling healthcare with artificial intelligence”; and so on. Artificial intelligence (AI), which is essentially a set of tools and programs that make software ’smarter’ in a way an outside observer thinks the output is generated by a human, is starting to break out on

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20 Entrepreneurs Explain What They Love About Being an Entrepreneur

Hearpreneur

Being in love is great. Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Waking up each morning knowing you are getting to do exactly what you love is more than most people could ever say about any “job” they have had. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality.

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An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Success

Duct Tape Marketing

An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Success written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Landon Ray. Podcast Transcript. I’ve known this week’s guest for about a decade and in that time I’ve watched him grow from tiny start-up to thriving Inc500 stand out. It’s really fun to see this kind of success and these stories are out there and everywhere if you look – no, they don’t always make the nightly news because it’s pret

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Measure Like Tesla: A Fresh Take on Stale Business Metrics

Up and Running

Harvard Business Review recently published an article on how using the same old business metrics can result in missed opportunities for entrepreneurs. The author, Eddie Yoon, says one of the reasons why investors seem increasingly unwilling to bet against Tesla is that when you look at Musk’s projections outside of traditional metrics, there’s an incredible case for continued growth and profit.

Metrics 83
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Attend Austin’s Tech Town Hall on Aug 24

Austin Startup

The Forrest Four-Cast: August 20, 2017 More than any other mayor in the history of Austin, Steve Adler has courted and created strong ties with the city’s tech and startup community. These ties proved to be an important pillar of his successful election bid in the spring of 2014. These ties have been re-affirmed by his ongoing efforts to bring dozens of big city US mayors to Austin for SXSW.

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Oracle Cloud Apps 13: A pivot point?

deal architect

Oracle Cloud Applications Release 13 – its bi-annual cloud applications release – announced this week solidifies the company’s position as the industry’s broadest suite – across ERP, HCM, CRM and SCM domains. Oracle has been at work on this for.

Cloud 239
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Startups – Beware The Changing Palo Alto Investment Model

YoungUpstarts

by Germán Montoya is the Chief Strategy and Creative Officer at Rokk3r Labs. Venture Capitalism is changing. Almost synonymous with this startup-focused era, the once indomitable VC investor sector is changing and adapting to deal with the changing nature of entrepreneurship. Traditionally, VC investors would invest $X million in a startup for a certain percentage of equity, decision making rights, and the power to block things they didn’t agree with.

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Home Is Where the Innovation Is

View from Seed

If a man from 1987 stepped into a time machine and emerged in 2017, he would find the modern world fantastically different in many ways. Mobile computing means that he has the world’s information and entertainment at his literal fingertips. The cars on the road may be familiar to him, but now, he can also magically hail a car on-demand or pay ludicrously low prices to get from place to place by sharing rides with one or two other passengers.

Denmark 244
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10 Principles For Surviving New Business Challenges

Startup Professionals Musings

As the economy flourishes after some tough economic times, more and more people seem to be turning to entrepreneurship as an alternative to traditional employment. I applaud this trend, but caution all of you thinking this direction to approach entrepreneurship with your eyes wide open. It is not for everyone, as the entrepreneur’s path is fraught with challenges.

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You adapt, or you adopt, or you die

Steve Blank

I was in Boston and stopped by the Harvard Business Review for their IdeaCast podcast. I shared my current thinking about innovation in companies and government agencies. The interviewer, Curt Nickisch was great and managed to get me to summarize several years of learning in one podcast. He even got me to tell my Steve Jobs interview story. It’s worth a listen.

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What to expect when you pitch me your startup idea

Austin Startup

I talk to at least a dozen new entrepreneurs each week and probably review two dozen email pitches. Here’s what to expect the first time you contact me and how to get the most out of it. Get an introduction if you can It’s always best to get an introduction from someone trusted by the person you want to meet. If you contact me cold then we’re probably going to exchange a few emails before I invite you to meet in person (however, it’s worth noting that I still do take a lot of meetings this way).

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Living the Dreamforce

deal architect

Salesforce has the honor of becoming “the first enterprise cloud software company to break the $10 billion revenue run rate" Amazingly, just a short 8 years ago I was blogging about its “second billion”. They have gone from strength to.

Cloud 225
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15 Ways A Brand New Small Business Can Look Established

YoungUpstarts

Back in the 1970’s, consumers saw about 500 advertising messages per day. Just guess what that number is today. So believe me when I say this: When you’re first starting a business, no one trusts you. You need to work towards a brand that will sell people on the idea of working with you. This requires building trust with as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

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Not Making Sales? Is Your Product, Sales Team, or Sales Process the Cause?

Small Business Force

Selling, especially for technology products always looks way easier than it actually is. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of believing that their products are so good, they, literally, sell themselves. Not even close. In fact, three key elements have to be in sync for your sales to succeed – the right product, the right sales team, and the right sales process. "I coached good; They played bad." I’ve sat on the boards of more than a dozen companies.

Sales 30
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7 Reasons To Start A New Focus On Inbound Marketing

Startup Professionals Musings

Every business I know is intimately familiar with outbound marketing, or pushing your message out to customers through email, newspaper, and television advertising. Only a few really understand the process and value of inbound marketing, for pulling customers to your brand. In my experience, it’s the fastest way to create trust and authenticity in this age of the consumer.

Marketing 192
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Change: Damned if you do, damned more if you don’t

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Top workplace complaints: 1) The way things are 2) Change. — Andrew Annett (@akannett) June 1, 2015. This plays out in many important ways: Customers demand an improved UX , but they don’t want to learn a new UX. Team members want consistency but don’t want policies. Developers want to be more efficient but don’t want to change how they work.

Demand 159
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What Belongs in a Startup’s Pitch Deck?

Gust

So you’ve developed a game-changing product, formed a business with a killer team, quit your job, and are rolling the product out to market. Your business is the next unicorn, and all is good in the world. Fantastic. Now only one thing is inhibiting your company’s growth: you have no money. For many founders of high-growth startups, bootstrapping has limits.

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A more realistic, less alarmist Oxford study on automation and jobs

deal architect

In my book, Silicon Collar and in several blogs I have critiqued the 2013 study by two Oxford researchers which reached this alarmist conclusion about the impact of modern day machines on jobs: “According to our estimates, about 47% of.

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5 Essential Tips For Entrepreneurs Opening A Small Business

YoungUpstarts

by Eddie Navarrette, founder of FE Design & Consulting. Opening a business can be an intimidating endeavor. From creating a viable concept to implementing cost-effective processes to ensure continual progress, building a business takes time, strategy and the right kind of advice. Check out my five helpful tips for budding entrepreneurs looking to open their own business: 1.